MEDIA RELEASE No: 2002-19 Date: 30 September 2002 Embargo: For Immediate Release

TRADE-WEIGHTED INDEX

The Bank has revised the weights for currencies included in the trade-weighted index (TWI) of the Australian dollar. The revisions reflect changes in the composition of Australia's trade in 2001/02.

The new and old weights are shown in the table below. The number of currencies included in the TWI remains unchanged at 23. There has been an increase in the weight of European currencies, a fall in the weight of North American currencies, and little change in the aggregate weight of Asian currencies. Within Asia, there was an increase in the weight of China and a fall in that of Japan. The Japanese yen nonetheless continues to have the largest single weight (17.2 per cent) followed by the US dollar at 15.1 per cent.

The new weights take effect from 1 October 2002.

Enquiries:
Manager, Media Office
Information Department
Reserve Bank of Australia
SYDNEY

Phone: +61 2 9551 9720
Fax:     +61 2 9221 5528
E-mail:  rbainfo@rba.gov.au

Weights in the Trade-Weighted Index (per cent)
Currency	Trade Weight
	current	previous
Japanese yen	17.2058	17.6723
United States dollar	15.0681	15.4706
European euro	12.3981	11.8561
Chinese renminbi	8.5754	7.6089
South Korean won	6.5588	6.3315
New Zealand dollar	5.5689	5.2025
UK pound sterling	5.1365	4.9855
Singapore dollar	4.0090	4.5011
New Taiwan dollar	3.5887	4.1840
Indonesian rupiah	3.2399	2.9093
Malaysian ringgit	2.8733	3.0400
Hong Kong dollar	2.4360	2.3977
Thai baht	2.3356	2.2740
Saudi Arabian riyal	1.6315	1.7327
Canadian dollar	1.5743	1.6531
Indian rupee	1.5280	1.2919
Vietnamese dong	1.0583	1.3328
South African rand	0.9971	0.9885
PNG kina	0.9588	1.1404
United Arab Emirates dirham	0.8940	1.0353
Philippine peso	0.8454	0.9134
Swedish krona	0.8310	0.8238
Swiss franc	0.6875	0.6546